The PC is a hitman. He specializes in longer range hits where he can shoot the target and then just fade away into the scenery.

In a particular situation, it is night, and he is hidden in the darkness of an alley across the street from a local bar he is expecting his quarry to exit from. He's lurking in the alley, with his blaster rifle pointed in the direction of the door.

The target exits through the door as expected. Player says, "I shoot him."

Which is the better way to resolve this...

A) The player rolls his dice as a free shot on the target. After that, there can be an initiative roll if the target is still kickin'.

B) Roll initiative. PC rolls Cool, target rolls Vigilance. PC hopes he gets the first slot. If the target gets the first slot, then he has spotted (or heard) the PC and may react appropriately.

C) Target makes a Vigilance vs. Stealth check. If unsuccessful, PC gets the free shot (A). If successful, initiative is rolled (B).

Target gets a high Difficulty assigned to their initiative and PC rolls it as simple as normal. PC likely wins and wins handily. PC Shoots target for Action and then burns Maneuver(s) to take off and run.

I don't like opposed checks, and then initiative rolls, that's too clunky. I'd rather it was just all handled by initiative using Difficulty and Setback dice to represent being at severe 'disadvantage at the start of a fight, as in the case of an ambush.

If the NPC is very important and special you could maybe go C, but if it's just some mook let the Player have his fun and give him a free shot. If the NPC survives then roll initiative and have the NPC either roll Perception to see if he can spot the shooter and fight back or just run away with no idea where he's being shot at from, depending on his character. I would also definitely let the player Aim.

I tend to run initiative as RAW. The scenario described above would garner some positive dice due to the unknown factor, but maybe if the NPC won, it could be that the NPC was tipped off some how, or narrative knelt to tie their shoe and the initial shot missed, so now the target is vaguely aware than there's a sniper in the area. To the PCs advantage, the target may not know where, so they could only do defensive actions.

But as the pirate said, if you give bonuses to the sniper's initiative slot, it's likely that they'll go first.

If it's a single PC, I'll often allow them to get a shot off before initiative starts. Shooting doesn't always have to take place in structured time. Lord knows I do the same to them from time to time. Storm Commando snipers are no joke.

If it's a full on-ambush, I'll have the group make cool checks with a healthy handful of boost dice.

A) The player rolls his dice as a free shot on the target. After that, there can be an initiative roll if the target is still kickin'.

B) Roll initiative. PC rolls Cool, target rolls Vigilance. PC hopes he gets the first slot. If the target gets the first slot, then he has spotted (or heard) the PC and may react appropriately.

C) Target makes a Vigilance vs. Stealth check. If unsuccessful, PC gets the free shot (A). If successful, initiative is rolled (B).

I would probably go for B as my first choice, but C sounds interesting.

I would probably go for B as my first choice, but C sounds interesting.

If C, does the NPC roll Vigilance vs. the PC's Stealth, or does the PC roll Stealth vs. the NPC's Vigilance?

If C, does the NPC roll Vigilance vs. the PC's Stealth, or does the PC roll Stealth vs. the NPC's Vigilance?

IMO, when doing opposed checks, the PC should always roll against the NPC.

The only time the GM should be rolling for the NPC is when the check in question is not opposed.

similar option: have initiative rolled, pc rolls cool normally, enemy rolls vigilance vs the pc's stealth. should the npc really score higher, he detects the ambush and can act, otherwise pc gets his first shot.